Rajiv Assassination: SC Rejects Death Sentence Plea

New Delhi: In a blow to Central government the Supreme Court on Wednesday junked the curative petition filed by the Centre demanding death sentence of 3 convicts- Murgan, Santhanam, Periwalan- in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The apex court also upheld the commutation of death sentence to life of three convicts in the assassination case.

Centre’s plea was opposing Tamil Nadu’s decision to remit the life sentences and set free seven convicts in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case. The assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, occurred as a result of a suicide bombing in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, in Tamil Nadu on 21 May 1991.

The attack was blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a militant organization from Sri Lanka; at the time India had just ended its involvement, through the Indian Peace Keeping Force, in the Sri Lankan Civil War.